1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electrical and optical cables, more particularly, to apparatus useful for routing electrical and optical cables as well as flexible tubing through buildings, structures, and the like.
2. The Prior Art
Occasionally a cable or bundles of cables, be they electrical or optical, must be strung through a building, typically along an open ceiling or above a suspended ceiling. Generally, the cable is pulled from one intermediate location to another until the ends of the cable are at their intended locations. The vast majority of the time, there are obstacles, such as corners, support beams, suspended ceiling components, etc. Obstacles mean that the cable cannot be run in a straight line, but must be routed around the obstacle. Making the task more difficult is that, because these obstacles are either not visible, not easily accessible, or obstructed, attention has not been paid to making them safe during initial construction. Typically there are abrasive edges or burrs that can wreak havoc on a cable as it is pulled across the obstacle.
There are currently no satisfactory temporary means for routing cables through obstacles and around corners. U.S. Pat. No. 2,649,746, issued to Taylor, discloses a cable guide composed of two halves that are hingably fastened together at one edge and the other edge is fastened with threaded fasteners to hold it together for snaking cables through and may be taken apart after the cable is in position to allow for easy removal. Feeding large cable bundles through this guide is difficult and may be prohibitive. Additionally, disassembly is time consuming. Besides being mechanically complicated, it cannot be used to guide cables through ceilings, because of both its bulk and the fact that it does not have a means to temporarily mount it to building supports in a manner that is appropriate for ceiling routing.
There are a number of other publications that disclose temporary wire guides, including U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,515,724, 3,038,702, 3,052,450, and 4,951,923. The common thread between these discloses is that they are designed to guide wires into electrical conduits from electrical junction boxes. They all mount to the junction box and do not disclose a means for independent mounting.
Additionally Leviton, Inc. markets a product called “Cable Joe Clamp-on Cable Router”. This product is mechanically complicated with a series of rollers circumferentially surrounding the cable path to provide a very narrow point of support. Therefore, it is not suitable for those installations where bend radius is important, such as the routing of optical cables as the Optical fibers could become damaged or non-operational due to an excessively sharp bend. The “Cable Joe” provides a single point of support rather than continuous and therefore may require multiple devices to guide the cable at a single location.
The present invention resolves these limitations by providing a device with a broad continuously supporting structure easily manipulated by the cable-installing individual.